Chapter 48
Chapter Forty-Eight
Kain
Inside Body Canvas, I flicked on the lights of my sleek and clean parlor with tiled flooring that reflected the soft glow of the track lighting mounted on the ceiling.
The parlor was closed for the night, so I had the entire place to myself.
I walked to my workstation, which hadn’t been used in a while.
I didn’t take on many clients these days, and no one could use my private station.
The smell of disinfectants and fresh ink tickled my nose, reminding me of the early days when I first started tattooing people.
It had been years since I inked myself. It made sense that Eva was the person to inspire new art.
I took out my sketchpad, drew the passionflower, and transferred it to carbon paper.
I turned on the machine, its sound humming in the air bringing me some comfort.
Sitting down on the leather chair, I cleaned my skin and applied a layer of petroleum jelly onto my right thigh.
Then I placed the carbon paper and grabbed the tattoo machine.
Two hours later, I had tattooed a dark rose with thorns spearing out of it, surrounded by four passionflowers taking on the cardinal positions of north, south, east, and west on a compass.
The thorny rose symbolized my dark past, which was now just an image on my skin with no attachment.
The passionflowers held power over the rose—over all the art on my body.
Eva represented the passionflower, healing me, loving me in ways she’d never understand. The art tingled on my skin, making me fully aware of its presence. It was important to me that I embedded a symbol of Eva onto me—into my soul.
Life was full of smiles, roses, and thorns, all of which served their purpose while coloring our landscape with depth and meaning.
I couldn’t wait to show it to her. What would she think?
My phone rang, snapping me back to the urgent matter. I reached for it and saw Godfrey’s name on the screen.
“Did you find something?” I asked.
“Andrew’s body was just discovered in the harbor.” Godfrey gave me a location.
I quickly added ointment and a bandage over the new tats and rushed off to the location.